A commercial aircraft fuselage may have a panelized skin construction. For example, a panelized fuselage may include fuselage panels such as crown, side and keel panels attached to a frame. The crown panel is primarily subject to tension loading, the side panels are subject largely to shear and pressure load redistribution around windows and doors, and the keel is subject primarily to axial compression and load redistribution from a keel beam.
Facilities for assembling panelized fuselages of large commercial aircraft may include large floor spaces with jigs and fixtures secured to the floor. These jigs and fixtures are used to assemble the various panels into fuselages.
The assembly of panelized fuselages of large commercial aircraft is very labor intensive. Due to a heavy dependence on manual labor, production rates are subject to constant change. Changes in production rates can lengthen production times.
It would be desirable to create a more stable environment for assembling the fuselages of large commercial aircraft.